Remote, safe and cost-efficient observations and assessment of geohazard subsidence risks for Kazakhstan energy industry (case study: Tengiz oilfield)

Abstract

Tengiz oilfield was selected as a study area for the present research because of its historically reported continuous subsidence and limited studies for this area during recent years. This study focused on the quantitative assessment of the vertical displacement velocities retrieved using Sentinel-1 and Cosmo-SkyMed synthetic aperture radar images for the Tengiz oilfield. The small baseline subset time-series technique was used for the interferometric processing of radar images acquired for the period of 2018–2020. The geospatial and statistical analyses allowed to determine the existing hotspots of the subsidence processes induced by oil extraction in the study area. Ground deformation measurements derived from the Sentinel-1 and COSMO-SkyMed satellite missions showed that the Tengiz oilfield continuously subsided during 2018–2020 with the maximum annual vertical displacement velocity around −77.4 mm/y and −71.5 mm/y, respectively. The vertical displacement velocities derived from the Sentinel-1 and the COSMO-SkyMed images showed a good statistical relationship with R2≥0.73 and RMSE ≤3.68 mm. The cumulative vertical displacement derived from both satellites for the most subsiding location also showed a good statistical relationship with R2 equal to 0.97 and RMSE = ± 4.69. The observed relative differences of measurements by both satellites were acceptable to determine the ongoing vertical surface displacement processes in the study area. These studies demonstrated a practical novelty for the petroleum industry in terms of the comparative assessment of surface displacement measurements using time-series of medium-resolution Sentinel-1 and high-resolution COSMO-SkyMed radar images.